Tav will use finals fortunes to boost Gers’ trophy bid
JAMES TAVERNIER will use his cup final experience to try to ensure his Rangers team-mates show bravery on the ball today.
Tavernier is looking to lift his third major trophy as Gers skipper at Hampden.
The full-back captained Rangers to the Premiership title in 2021 and Scottish Cup success in 2022, having also played his part in their 2016 Championship and Challenge Cup triumphs.
He lost the Scottish Cup final against Hibernian in that same season and has also had to stomach frustrating final defeats against Celtic in the League Cup and Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League.
When asked how his experiences could help, Tavernier, 31, said: “Obviously it’s in the background.
“You do have experience in these kind of games.
“You have got to let the game settle because it will be a very fast tempo, as it always is at the start.
“We have got to expect that and when it’s required for us to play our football we have got to have big, broad shoulders, get the ball and play our football.
“I know the boys are more than capable of doing that.”
Tavernier has just been inducted into the Rangers hall of fame, a feat he never imagined could be possible when Mark Warburton signed him from Wigan in the summer of 2015.
“You never think too far ahead,” he said. “This is my eighth season. There are plenty of positives and negatives in that.
“There are obviously regrets where you have not won more trophies.
“But it’s all about what’s in the future and what you can impact.
“We have a chance to win a trophy. We have not won it in a long time and we will be doing everything possible.” Meanwhile, Celtic defender Cameron Carter-vickers admits the “ridiculous” noise took him by surprise when he first lined up against Rangers.
And the defender (below) expects the atmosphere to be even better today, with close to 25,000 fans of each team set to descend upon Hampden for the Viaplay Cup final.
The former Tottenham player’s Old Firm debut came in February last year when a 3-0 home win at Celtic Park sent Ange Postecoglou’s side top of the table and set them on their way to the title.
When asked if anything had taken him by surprise about the fixture, Cartervickers said: “Probably just the atmosphere. I think my first game against Rangers was the night game.
“The noise was ridiculous and it definitely did take me by surprise a little bit.
“But I am used to it now and it’s definitely a great environment to play in.
“On Sunday obviously it will be 50-50 and I think that will definitely add to the atmosphere.
“When both teams have equal support there it definitely makes for a good atmosphere.”
Carter-vickers is rarely flustered on the park and he was equally measured off it when reminded about Fashion Sakala’s comments in the build-up to the final.
The Rangers forward this week claimed his side were “so much better” than Celtic, a “far better club” and referred to his rivals as the “other mob”. Carter-vickers said: “I have no problem with it. Every professional sportsman has to have some kind of level of personal belief to get to where they are.”